FPCCI laments low cotton output

KARACHI: The apex trade body on Thursday urged the government to take measures to increase cotton production across the country, saying the output was alarmingly decreasing.

“Cotton is the most significant cash crop as it

provides indigenous raw material to country’s largest exportable product category such as textiles,” said Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI) president Irfan Iqbal Sheikh.

Sheikh stated that textiles exports were set to cross $20 billion in the outgoing fiscal year, while cotton production had been reduced to 6- 7 million bales per year, he lamented.

He was of the view that Pakistan’s textiles products could become more competitive by

producing the entire raw material domestically or by resuming the previous levels of 10-12 million bales / year.

He added that importing 1 million bales resulted in the outflow of $1 billion of precious foreign exchange.

FPCCI Chief explained that 60 percent cost of producing the textile products lies with the raw material of cotton.”

Cotton is our lifeline as far as the lion’s share of our exports is concerned.”

Producing more cotton would also strengthen the country’s foreign exchange reserves, improve abysmal trade balance, and would put a halt to the incessant rupee depreciation, he noted.